Airport line to reopen today, no check-in facility

NEW DELHI: Months after the Airport Metro Express closed down due to safety concerns, the concessionaire, Reliance Infrastructure-led DAMEPL, is resuming operations on January 22. Said a spokesperson from DAMEPL, "The Airport Metro line will start commercial operations at its regular timing of 5.30am from January 22, 2013." The Metro corridor will be running at a reduced speed of 50kmph only in the beginning. The speed will be increased after periodic inspections by Delhi Metro, in accordance with the approval given by CMRS (commissioner of metro rail safety).

However, check-in and baggage facilities for both international and domestic passengers would not be available for the time being. Though resumption of services on the "high-speed" corridor will be celebrated by many commuters, the earlier 20-minute journey from Connaught Place to Terminal 3 of IGI airport will now take more than half an hour. "Reliance Metro's Airport Express Line would run daily from 5.30am to 11.30pm at a frequency of 15 minutes," an R-Infra spokesman said. Shared cab and shuttle bus services till Aerocity station will be available for Terminal 1 passengers, he added.

The good news is that passengers can travel on the line at a discounted fare of Rs 30 on Tuesday, between any two stations, as a promotional initiative. On a normal day, the minimum fare is Rs 20 and the maximum Rs 100. It's not just Delhi commuters that will be looking forward to reopening of the line. An internal survey of R-Infra shows that till March last year, almost 58% of all commuters were from neighbouring states like Punjab, Rajasthan, UP and Gujarat. The survey, which was conducted on 800 passengers, makes it clear that the Airport line is one of the preferred modes of transport in the city.

In addition to single-journey tokens, the Airport line has also introduced new products in the form of return journey tokens and Sunday/holiday discount tokens, while retaining the monthly passes for regular commuters. Baggage check-in infrastructure for both national and international travel is in place, but the services would start in some time, the spokesman said.

The corridor was shut on July 8 last year after R-Infra complained to Delhi Metro about cracks being noticed on civil structures of the corridor. Delhi Metro completed the civil structure and handed it over to the concessionaire for operations in 2010. The reduction of speed comes as a big blow to both Delhi Metro and R-Infra, which have been claiming that trains can be run at a maximum of 120kmph.

Problems were also noticed in the clippings used in the underground section of the corridor. It is believed that the train speed can be increased only when the clipping issue is addressed.